John Barbagelata (March 29, 1919 – March 19, 1994) was a

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

City Supervisor and 1975 mayoral candidate, when he narrowly lost to

George Moscone George Richard Moscone (; November 24, 1929 – November 27, 1978) was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the 37th mayor of San Francisco, California from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. He was known ...

. He was also the owner of a local real estate firm. As of 2020, he was the last

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

to be elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, in 1973.

Personal life

Barbagelata was a realtor and the founder of Barbagelata Realty Company, still operating in San Francisco's West Portal neighborhood. He had eight children and was a devout Catholic.

Political career

A conservative

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

businessman, Barbagelata was strongly opposed to the leftist

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...

that had begun to take hold of San Francisco in the late 1960s. Barbagelata advocated for pro-business policies such as lower taxes and minimal government regulation of business, and opposed labor unions, hippies, and leftist radicals, which made him a target for various leftist militants. He received numerous

death threat A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a de ...

s, a bomb was exploded outside his house, a gun was fired through the windows of his West Portal real estate office, and two

mail bomb A letter bomb, also called parcel bomb, mail bomb, package bomb, note bomb, message bomb, gift bomb, present bomb, delivery bomb, surprise bomb, postal bomb, or post bomb, is an explosive device sent via the postal service, and designed with t ...

s were sent to his house, eventually requiring 24-hour police and FBI protection for his family. Barbagelata was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1970 on a campaign of fiscal responsibility and lower taxes. Barbagelata ran for mayor in 1975 against progressive candidate

, promising low taxes, a crackdown on crime, and a fight against corruption and "irresponsible City spending". He lost by fewer than 5,000 votes. For the rest of his life, Barbagelata maintained that the

Peoples Temple The Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ, originally Peoples Temple Full Gospel Church and commonly shortened to Peoples Temple, was an American new religious organization which existed between 1954 and 1978. Founded in Indianapolis, Ind ...

far-left religious cult, led by

Jim Jones James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American preacher, political activist and mass murderer. He led the Peoples Temple, a new religious movement, between 1955 and 1978. In what he called "revolutionary suicide ...

, committed election fraud in the 1975 election by busing in out-of-town church members to double- and triple-vote for Moscone under the names of dead voters.Cothran, George
Barbagelata's Return?
San Francisco Weekly, November 18, 1998. He retired from politics in 1978, returning briefly in the late 1980s to promote a successful referendum creating

term limit A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

s for City Supervisors.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbagelata, John 1994 deaths 1919 births 20th-century American politicians 20th-century Roman Catholics American real estate brokers Catholics from California California Republicans San Francisco Board of Supervisors members